Bart and Garland: As Long As He Needs Me

Bart and Garland: As Long As He Needs Me

From my very first coaching with Maestro Blier, I brought in a new American Songbook song every week. I think it’s something we both look forward to; we work on my repertoire for the first fifty minutes of the coaching and in the remaining few moments of our time...
Lin-Manuel Miranda: Helpless/Satisfied

Lin-Manuel Miranda: Helpless/Satisfied

With the biggest hit in Broadway history on his hands, Lin-Manuel Miranda is in the midst of his first “Golden Age” and he’s only 36 years old. Hamilton: An American Musical already won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, currently has sixteen Tony nominations, and is...
Sondheim:  Finishing the Hat

Sondheim: Finishing the Hat

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday In the Park with George opened on Broadway in 1984 starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. Act One centers around Georges Seurat as he paints his pointillistic masterpiece, Un dimanche...
Frank Loesser: The Brotherhood of Man

Frank Loesser: The Brotherhood of Man

Here’s a song I didn’t quite get until I saw it onstage: “The Brotherhood of Man” from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Frank Loesser’s score for that show is quite good but not really excerptable—sure, all the songs are à propos to the script but...
Song of the Day: September 23

Song of the Day: September 23

from librettist Mark Campbell: Being Alive Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim I had to include a Sondheim song this week. Had to. “Being Alive” is not necessarily my favorite song from the Sondheim canon—but I have to admit that in my long and varied romantic life,...